Carlos Beltran hasn’t played since the Grapefruit League opener, sitting out a week with a sore shoulder and the flu, but he’s back in the Cardinals’ lineup today.

Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post Dispatchreports that he’ll start at designated hitter and bat third in a split-squad game against the Braves.

Allen Craig is unlikely to be recovered from knee surgery before May, so the Cardinals can’t afford to have Beltran too far behind schedule heading into Opening Day. Beltran missed significant amounts of the 2009 and 2010 seasons with injuries, but played 142 games last year while hitting .300 with 22 homers and a .910 OPS.

The Cardinals are the perfect landing spot for Beltram. They love their players and know and understand baseball. Plus they don’t jump off the bandwagon when one of their players has a hiccup during the season. He’s has such a history of injuries and hopefully he’ll battle back and have a great season